The Basic Doctrine Of Protestant Christianity is (1) Justification/Salvation by Grace through Faith and (2) The Absolute Authority of the Scriptures.
“Other Denominations” and Churches do more than just differ from these two tenets. They try to rewrite the rules for Salvation or Add/Delete parts of the Bible they don’t like
Mormonism is a cult - Joe Smith takes advantage of feeble minds in gaining power and setting up a kingdom out west, later inherited by Brigham Young.
Seventh-Day Adventism is a cult - Miller’s false prophecies, along with the proven false prophecies of Ellen White, along with changing punctuations in the Bible to match their meanings of Heaven and no existence of Hell.
Christian Science is a cult - One need only look at the very colorful life of Mary.......too many names....Eddy
Jehova’s witnesses is a cult - I forget the name of the guy who started the Kingdom Halls, but he was a convicted criminal from what I can remember. Plus, it came out of San Francisco, which we all know is an evil place to begin with.
Want to know how to really pi$$ off a JW? Invite them into your home and show them your King James Bible and try to witness to them. The “head” guy will make sure the people are outta there faster than you can say supercalifragi....
Islam is a cult - A drunken camel driver figures out a way how to scheme a rich widow out of her millions and gain power. Tries to get along with everyone else, but exalts “His” status above others.
And now, probably the most controversial statement of all:
The Roman Catholic Church is a cult. Many teachings of the RCC are totally against Biblical scripture. Many of the sacrements are contrary to the teaching of Jesus, the exaltation of Mary to Jesus-equivalent status, the idea that Salvation through works is possible, the idea that the Pope is the infallible Word of God, the idea that one needs an intermediary (Priest) to talk to God, all have no Biblical basis.
Usually for my RCC friends, I refer them to here:
http://www.ourlittleplace.com/testimony.html
Again, “True” Christianity that ties most of the Protestant Non-Cultic denominations together are (1) Salvation by Grace through Faith and (2) The Absolute Authority of Scripture. Most cultists will differ from these two ideas, but some try to deceptively mirror them by adding their “own” non-Biblically based teachings.
So then "True" Christianity doesn't exist on earth until 1600 years after Jesus, when Protestantism is invented and they profess (1) Justification/Salvation by Grace through Faith and (2) The Absolute Authority of the Scriptures.
(Also, the COMPLETED version of the Scriptures wasn't put together until over 200 years after Jesus Christ, by those "Catholic" cultists that you denounce as "false" Christians. I wonder how a "false" Christian cult can give you the "genuine, absolute authority" scripture. That would be like me claiming that a "fake" Jewish group wrote the old testament that "real" Jews used later on)
Furthermore, by your definition, at least 2/3rds of the mainstream Christian churches in the world and about 1.4 billion people in the world who profess Christ as their savior and can trace their denomination back to the ORIGINAL apostles (all Catholic & Orthodox denominations) are not "True" Christians.
Indeed, by your definition, the apostles THEMSELVES weren't Christian! None of them professed that the key to following Jesus was (1) Justification/Salvation by Grace through Faith and (2) The Absolute Authority of the Scriptures. Guess St. Peter and all those guys were phonies.
I agree with your synopsis. Catholicism becomes a cult when their members place their “traditions” and other writings above or equal to Scripture and when they put their worship to anyone other than Jesus. Cults also have Earthly leaders which get more credit for direction then the teachings of Jesus. The Pope and priests fit that role quite well.
The one thing I will say though, is that there are Catholics who are saved, but it is in spite of their doctrine, not because of it.
All of them were instituted by Christ and can be found in Scripture.
the exaltation of Mary to Jesus-equivalent status
Not Catholic doctrine.
the idea that Salvation through works is possible
Not Catholic doctrine.
the idea that the Pope is the infallible Word of God
Not Catholic doctrine.
the idea that one needs an intermediary (Priest) to talk to God
Not Catholic doctrine.
You've been lied to, friend. Our Lord Jesus Christ says that the Devil is the father of lies. Think about it.
Great post and I agree.